Tire for vehicle wheels



Dec. 19 1922.v

. L. SCHLUETER. E Fon VE LE' WHEELS. FILED cT. .1920.'

Patented Dec. lil, l922.

'ninna l MAX L. scrrnnnrnn, or Cyr-troneo, Immers.l

man ron vnr-nomi wrrnnrs.'

Application led October 25,1920. Serial No..419,165.

To all whom it' may concern.

Be it lrnown that LFMAX L. `SCi-ILL;n'rnn,

citizen of the United States, residing at' Chicago, county of Cook,`State of Illinois, have invented' a certaink new and useful improvementin Tires .for Vehicle `Wheels, and declare the following'to beta full,clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable othersskilled'in the art to which it pertains to @maire and use thefsame,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form `a part ofthis specification.

The usual tires employed on automobiles, while satisfactory when runningover hard roads or pavements, do not meet the requirements of softground,for the reason that the tires sink deeply into the soft groundand place an undue load on the motor.

The object of the present invention is to produce a simple and noveltire which will present the comparatively narrow treadv surface, inrunning over hard roads or pavements, that automobile tires now usuallyhave and, when running over soft ground, will present a'much wider treadsurface so as to prevent it from sinking deeply into the ground. 1 f

rlfhe Various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed out with particularity vin the claims; but,for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects andadvantages, reference may be had to the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of half of an automobile wheel equippedwith a tire made 'in accordance with the present invention;

Fig'. i 2 is a developed elevation or view o f the tread surface of. thetire;

Fig. 3 is a section., on an enlarged scale, taken approximately on line3-3 of lfig. 1; and

Fig. 4; is a view similar to Fig. 3, illustrate inge modification.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing, 1 represents a cylindricalmetal shell or rim which may be two or three or more times wide as theeffective tread surface of a pneumatic automobile tire of the samediameter. In the interior of the member 1, midway between the sideedges, is an annular projec tion, 2, which may take the shape of thedemountable rim of an automobile wheel. Surroundingand lying in closeContact with the member 1 is a cushioningband or layer, 3, preferablyofrubber. The middle portion of the member 3 1s made considerably 'thickerthan the remainder so as to 'provide an an`l nular projection,` 4, whichwillpresent to the roadva tread surface' of suilicient width where theroad is hard. VYV'h'en soft ground vis encountered the projection #iwill sinlrinto it until the wide side portions ofthe member 3 rest uponthe ground, giving aneffective n tread surface several timesas greatasthat f presented by the element l1, f rlhe member 3 is preferablyprovided with ribsiorpro-jections, 5, on opposite y sides of and lowerthan the member 41e, so that, when soft ground .is encountered, bettertraction will be obtained than would be the case if the low portions ofthe member 3 were left smooth. The com bined rim and tire may bedemountably placed on any usual or preferred wheel center, `6, which mayinclude a standard rim and fastening means, as shown, so that ity may beplaced in position and taken ofi' in the same manner as ak demountablerim and tire of ordinary form.` By extending the member 1 across'thefentire widthof the member` 3, the load is effectively distributedacross the whole tread surface lwhen soft ground is encountered whereas,if the side portions of the member 3 were not backed with metal theywould yield under the load and detract from the efliciency of thedevice.

My improved tire and rim may be built up in any suitable way. 1n thearrangement. shown in Fig. 3, the member 1 is a simple short cylinderwithin which lits a ring, 2, channel-shaped in ycross section, andsurrounding which is a smaller ring, 7, also 1 channel-shaped;the'members 1, 2 and 7 b eing tied together by means of rivets or bolts,8, passing through the same. The cushion` ing member 3 .is thenvulcanized directly upon the metal. member 7 of the rubber and thusserves positively to hold the rubber against displacement in the lateraldirection.

In' the arrangement shown in F ig. d, the member 11, corresponding tothe member 1, and the member 12, corresponding tothe member 2, are madeintegral .with each other; the members 11 and 12 together constituting aring Ushaped in cross sectionv and having wide peripheral langes. Themember 13 has the same external appear'- It will. be seen Lthat theprojects outwardly into the body` ance as the member but is provided onthe inside thereof with a heavy annular rib or projection, let, ofapproximately the saine Width the raised middle portion, el, which litsinto the channel-shaped part, lf2, of the rim. ln this form of my:invention 'theuiorinail tread surface at the periphery of the raisedmiddle portion, l, is backed'by a much deeper body of rubber than in theother form, and the cushioning effect, While running over yhardsurfaces, will therefore 'be greater than-in the other form.

'YVhile l have illustrated and ydescribed with particularity only alsingle preferred forme-f my `invention together with fa slightmodification, I do notdesire .to be limited to the exact structuraldetails thu-s illustrated ancl-clescrhecl;but intend'to coverall formsand arrangements which come Within I'the term-sfemployed in thedefinitions of my invention constituting the appended `claims.Furthermore, While I have referred only lto automobile lWheels yitwillhe evident that my invention is applicable to'vehiele Wheels ingeneral..

l claim:

l. A device of the character described comprising a Wide fiat metal rimhaving a central inwardly-projecting portion adapted `to fit upon aWheel rim, and a cushioning said peripheral portion, said cushioninglayer having side tread surfaces and a-cen tral raised portion providedwith va tread surface at 'its periphery.

In' testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

n yMAX L. soHLUii'rni'a,

